Meaning & use
mine
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Meanings
pronoun
Belonging to me; the one(s) that belong to me.
Grammar: Stands alone without a following noun; 'my' must be followed by a noun, e.g., 'my book' vs. 'the book is mine'.
Patterns
- be mine
- a friend of mine
- mine alone
That book is mine, not yours.
She is a good friend of mine.
Your car is red, but mine is blue.
nouncountable
A deep hole or tunnel dug in the ground to extract coal, gold, or other minerals.
Grammar: Countable; plural is mines. Often used with 'a' or 'the'.
Patterns
- a coal mine
- work in a mine
- a gold mine
The coal mine closed last year, leaving many without jobs.
They discovered a new gold mine in the mountains.
Working in a mine is dangerous and physically demanding.
nouncountable
An explosive device hidden in the ground or water that explodes when touched or triggered.
Grammar: Countable; plural is mines. Often used in military contexts.
Patterns
- a land mine
- hit a mine
- clear mines
The soldier lost his leg when he stepped on a land mine.
The navy sent ships to clear the mines from the harbor.
The field was marked with signs warning of mines.
verbtransitive or intransitive
To dig into the earth to extract minerals or other valuable substances.
Grammar: Can take an object (mine gold) or be used without one (they mine for gold).
Patterns
- mine for gold
- mine coal
- mine data
They mine for diamonds in the remote region.
The company has mined coal here for over a century.
He mined the hillside for silver but found only rocks.
Word forms
| plural | mines |
|---|---|
| third person singular | mines |
| past tense | mined |
| past participle | mined |
| -ing form | mining |
Common combinations
- a friend of mine
- She is a friend of mine from college.
- mine for gold
- They went to California to mine for gold.
- a coal mine
- The coal mine provided jobs for the whole town.
- land mine
- The area was dangerous because of unexploded land mines.
Synonyms and how they differ
- my
- A possessive determiner that must be followed by a noun; 'mine' replaces 'my + noun' and stands alone.
Opposites
Word family
- miner noun
- A person who works in a mine.
- mining noun
- The industry or process of extracting minerals from the earth.
Commonly confused: mine or mien?
mine vs mien
Pronounced the same but means a person's appearance or manner; completely different meaning.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'mine' correctly as a pronoun?
Choose one answer.
'Mine' stands alone and does not take a noun after it, so 'The red car is mine' is correct. Options An and C incorrectly use 'mine' before a noun (should be 'my'). Option D uses 'mine' as a subject pronoun, which is wrong; it should be 'I'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “mine”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.